Professional vs. Amateur Brewing: A Game With Which I am Not Familiar

After watching the field-crushing performance by Jack Nicklaus during the 1965 Masters, Bobby Jones, the tournament’s legendary co-founder and a man idolized by Nicklaus himself, had the following to say about Nicklaus’ performance:

“He plays a game with which I am not familiar.”

That sentence runs through my head quite a lot when I hear homebrewers talk about brewing – especially when they’re citing professional brewery practices to justify something they believe to be essential to homebrewing.

When Jones gave his famous quote, he wasn’t being humble or even falsely modest: he was simply pointing out that the game of golf was so different compared to when he had competed (equipment, the advent of professional golfers whose sole vocation was the game, course design) that the two could hardly be compared. He was complimenting Nicklaus, to be sure – but he wasn’t necessarily conceding that Nicklaus was more skilled or talented.

So it is with homebrewing v. professional brewing. What is necessary, desirable, or appropriate for one is not necessarily so for the other. They’re playing a game with which we homebrewers are not (well, are maybe not) familiar.